Score predicting the morbidity of liver resections helps identify most susceptible patients
THURSDAY, July 21 (HealthDay News) -- A score to predict morbidity in liver resections helps identify which patients are most susceptible to complications, according to a study published online July 18 in the Archives of Surgery.
Axel Andres, M.D., from the Geneva University Hospitals in Switzerland, and colleagues sought to develop a scoring system to predict the morbidity of liver resections in a center with low mortality. Data from 726 elective liver resections performed on 689 patients at the Geneva University Hospitals between January 1991 and October 2009 were assessed. Perioperative complications and their severity were graded and a linear regression analysis model was used to identify independent variables associated with complications. All independent variables in an assessment population were used to compute a score, including two-thirds of the liver resections, which was further validated in a population with one-third of the resections.
The investigators found an overall mortality rate of 0.7 percent. There were 375 different complications in 259 liver resections, with 36 percent of the resections having one or more complication. Independent predictors of complication risk were resection of three or more segments, an American Society of Anesthesiologists score of three or higher, and resection for a malignant neoplasm. A score integrating these three factors significantly predicted postoperative complication risk and also corresponded with the occurrence of major complications.
"The score allows for identification of patients most susceptible to complications, in whom efforts against specific postoperative morbidities can be concentrated," the authors write.
Abstract
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